August f



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST F. RADANT, OF \VAUSAU, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO AUGUST BRAATZ, OF SAME PLACE.

STEAM-ENGINE VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,897, dated December 2, 1890.

Application filed August 12, 1889. $erial No. 320,498. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Aueusr F. RADANT, of \Vausau, in the county of Marathon, and in the State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engine Valves; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to steam-engine valves;

and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, as will be fully set forth hereinafter and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a vertical 1011- gitudinal section through a portion of a cyl- I 5 inder and steam-chest with my improved valve attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section, of myimproved device. Figs. 3,4, and 5 are detail views of the cams which control the butterfly-valves.

My invention is especially well adapted for the conversion of ordinary slide-valve engines, already in existence, into improved engines containing butterfly-valves, (in combination with said slide-valves, as hereinafter described,) although of course it will be understood that I propose to build entirely new engines from my present pattern, also; but in view of the well-known construction of slidevalve engines I have only deemed it necessary to illustrate so much thereof as pertains to my present improvement.

A represents the upper portion of a steamcylinder, and B a steam-chest, both of ordinary construction, the former having inletports a b and exhaust-port c.

. C is a slide-valve having a passage cl connecting the exhaust with either one of the inlet-ports, and openings 6 f, forming communications between the steam-chest and either one of the said inletports, according to the position of the slide-valve. A bracket g, rising from the slide-valve, receives the valve-rod D thereof, which is secured in any ordinary manner, and which passes out of the steam-chest through ordinary stuffingboxes, as shown, and on one side of this bracket is a supplementary cylinder E, from which a passage It leads to the beforeuamed passage (1 in the slide-valve, and which former passage is provided with a valve 1', having an operating-rod extending out through the steam-chest, and having a hand-wheel 7.1 to

turn the same.

Within the supplementary cylinder E are two plungers M N, pivotally connected to links 5 5 m 11, respectively, which in turn are similarly connected to arms 0 and 1), rising rigidly from the butterfly-valves O and P, and the shafts or journals E Gof these buttertiywalves have suitable bearings in the slide-valve C, their ends extending beyond the rear wall of said slide-valve and there receiving the hubs q 0' of arms H I, (said hubs fitting loosely on said shafts and being connected thereto by pins 5, having limited playin slots 15, formed in said hubs, as best shown in Fig. h) which arms carry anti-friction rollers J K, there being springs a 11 fast on the ends of the shafts E G, and whose free ends bear on the arms 11 I and tend to force them and their anti-friction 7o rollers downward, as hereinafter explained.

Q and R are vertical shafts stepped in and rising from the head of the steam-cylinder A back of the slide-valve C, and carrying, in the preferred form shown, pinions w to at their upper ends, by means of which they are united by the yoke L, having rack-teeth formed on its inner surface to mesh with the teeth of said pinions, so that the two vertical shafts shall always revolve or partly rotate together, (though in opposite directions inthe illustra tion given,) and hence it is obvious that they may be linked together in any manner that will accomplish this result. On these shafts Q and R are the cams S and '1, made fast, as 8 5 by pin at, (shown in Fig. 5,) so as to revolve therewith, and these cams have a rounded front edge 3 a downwardly-inclined under inner edge .2, and a lower reduced rounded hub .2".

U V are stationary cams rising from the head of the steam-cylinder A, each having a rounded inner edge 7 (corresponding to the rounded edge 3/ of the movable cams) and a lower front recess or shoulder .2 and a down- 9 3 ward and outward incline .2 from the lower surface to the end, and above this an upward and inward end incline at the same angle as that of the edge a of the movable cams, all as plainly shown in the detail view, Fig.

In the operation of my device the steam in the steam-chest 13 will everywhere exert an equal pressure against the butterfly-valves O P in the openings 6 f in the slide-valve and against the plungers BI N in the supplementary cylinder E, which cylinder contains a certain amount of steam, (which leaks in past the plungers,) as well as air admitted thereto through the passages (Z h from the cylinder A, governed by the valve 6, forming a resistance or cushion to the progress of the plungers.

The action of the steam in closing the butterfly-valves is controlled by the hereinbefore-named cams, as follows: The anti-fridtion rollers J K are on the ends of arms H I, secured, as described,to the shafts E G of the said butterfly-valves O P, and when the parts are in the position shown in the drawings, the roller K is down in position to move along in the recess .2 of the cam V, the butterflyvalve I being closed, while the roller J is on top of the cam U, the butterfly-valve 0 being open and moving toward the center of the steam -chest until the roller J reaches the point indicated bythe dotted circle X and the roller K reaches the point indicated by the dotted circle WV, there being play enough (by reason of slot 23 and pin 3) to permit said roller K to ride over thedownwardly-inclined end 2 on the lower surface'ofithe stationary cam V, and then the action of thespringv-Will force said roller K upward around the point and just in position to ascend the incline 2 of cam V, the passage e'being meanwhile in register with the inlet-port a of the steamcylinder, while the passage f is over a portion of the solid head of said cylinder, and hence out off. At thismoment thepressure of the steam in the-steam-chest B against the head of the plunger M will force-the same inward into the supplementary cylinder :E and close valve 0, and the roller J will drop down to the point indicated by the dotted circle X. As the slide-valve 0 starts to move to the other side, the roller K is thereby pulled up the incline '2 of cam V to the pointindicated by the dotted circle Y, and the arm I of said roller thereby opens the butterfly-valve P, and this action, (by means of the arm p and link 11-)draws the plunger N out to the end of the supplementary cylinder E against the pressure of the steam in the steam-chest, (the passage fand inlet-port Z7 being in regi-ster,) until the roller K has traveled to thepoint indicated by the dotted circle Y and the roller J to the point indicated by the dotted circle Z, when the pressure of the steam against the head of the flange N will force the plunger inward and close the butterfly-valve P, and the roller J will be in position to ride up'the incline 2 of the cam U and repeat the just-described operation.

By means of turning the valve 1' more or less :the pressure in the space in the cylinder E'between the plungers M N is regulated to a nicety and by reason of the described arrangement of movable and stationary cams the length of travel of the anti-friction rollers is adjusted, and hence the length of time that the butterfly-valves are held open and closed, respectively, is determined. This adjustment is automatic, as by reason of the attachment of a governor (not shown) of any preferred construction to the yoke L or other connection of'the vertical cam-shafts, and as the speed of the engine increases, the path of travel of the rollers on the cams will shorten, (as the cams contract) and thus permit a quicker movement of the butterfly-valves, and as the engine goes slower the movable cams will spread and increase the length of the path of travel of the said rollers and cause a corresponding slower movement of the butterfly valves.

I have not deemed it necessaryto-.illustrate Mybutterfly-valves serve to cutoff. the steam at any point of the piston-stroke, admitting just the amount of steam required in the cylinderto O"Qi"b&1&l106 the load attached to the engine and keep the same in regular motion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. In a steam-engine, the combinatiomwlth the steam-cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, and the steam-chest, of a slide-valve having openings adapted to alternatelyzregis ter with said inlet-ports, and a passage connecting either one of said-inlet-ports with the exhaust-port, butterfly-valves located in said openings and mounted on shafts extending through said slide-valve, cams located adjacent to said slide-valve, and arms attached to the shafts of the butterfly-valves and adapted to travel over and around-said cams, substantially as set forth.

2. .In asteam-engine,the combination, with the steam-cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, and the steamchest, of a slide-valve having openings adaptedto alternately register with said inlet-ports, and a passage connecting either one of said inlet-ports with the exhaust-port, butterfly-valves locatedin said openings and mounted on shafts extending through said slide-valve, expansible andeon- I tractible cams-located adjacent to said slidevalve and connected'soas to revolve or partially rotate together, and arms attached to the shafts of the butterfly-valves and adapted to travel over and around said cams,-substantially as set forth.

3. In a steam-engine, the combination, with the steam-cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, and the steam-chest, of a slide-valve having openings adapted to alternately register with said inlet-ports, and a passage connecting either one of said inlet ports with the exhaustport, butterfly-valves located in said openings and mounted on shafts extending through said slide-valve, cams located adjacent to said slide-valve, arms attached to the shafts of the butterfly-valves and adapted to travel over and around said cams, a supplementary cylinder moving with the slidevalve and having a valvecontrolled passage leading thereto, and plungers working in said supplementary cylinder and linked to said butterfly-valves, substantially as set forth.

4. In a steam-engine, the combination, with the steam-cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, and the steam-chest, of a slide-Valve having openings adapted to alternately register with said inlet-ports, and a passage connecting either one of said inlet-ports with the exhaust-port, butterfly-valves located in said openings and mounted on shafts extending In testimony that I claim the foregoingl 3 5 have hereunto set my hand, at Wausau, 1n the county of Marathon and State of \Viscousin, in the presence of two Witnesses.

AUGUST F. RADANT. Vitnesses:

J OHN LIvERMoRE, SAM KRIDER. 

